Former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid says she’s waiting to see what happens with a pending ethics investigation before deciding whether to run against U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., next year.
She also believes the Senate Ethics Committee should interview her in the course of its investigation into the senator’s actions.
Shortly after losing to U.S. Rep. Heather Wilson, R-N.M. last year by 861 votes out of more than 211,000, Madrid said she might run for Senate or governor in the future. Since then, Domenici and Wilson have been dogged by allegations that they had former U.S. Attorney David Iglesias fired because he refused pressure from them to speed indictments in a public corruption probe. Such indictments, which were issued last month and included former Democratic state Senate President Manny Aragon, might have aided Wilson in her re-election bid.
Iglesias’ allegations triggered the inquiry into whether Domenici violated Senate ethics rules. Madrid says she’s waiting for the outcome of that probe before she decides whether to take on New Mexico’s senior Republican.
“I’m watching this very carefully,” she said. “I think we have to wait and see what happens with this investigation.”
Madrid, who grew up in Las Cruces but spent much of her career in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, added that she has “always been very strong statewide” and believes she would have defeated Wilson in a statewide race.
Madrid thinks she can aid Senate probe
I reported earlier today that Sen. Ken Salazar, D-Colo., was excused from the panel investigating Domenici’s actions because of his friendship with Madrid. The former attorney general confirmed that, and also said she believes she should be interviewed by the panel.
“I think I have something to add to that investigation,” Madrid said.
What she has to say doesn’t directly relate to Domenici’s October 2006 phone call to Iglesias, which was about an investigation into the Bernalillo County Metro Courthouse scandal. But Madrid told me in March she believes Domenici and Wilson may have had a hand in another massive public corruption scandal prosecuted by Iglesias’ office.
Madrid, who was still attorney general while she ran for Congress, alleged last month that her office was kept from having any involvement in prosecution of the state treasurer scandal. She said that was “probably” done at the urging of Republican operatives and designed to give Wilson fuel to attack Madrid for doing nothing about public corruption.
“We were deliberately kept out by the Justice Department, the U.S. attorney and the FBI,” Madrid said last month, adding that she believes it is likely that Iglesias, Domenici, Wilson and Bush political adviser Karl Rove “had these prosecutions so intertwined with this campaign.”
By contrast, the U.S. Attorney’s Office is working closely with the current state attorney general, Gary King, on prosecution of the metro court scandal.
Madrid said today she believes Domenici and Wilson “used the Justice Department and the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI very inappropriately,” and said she believes the senators investigating Domenici should ask her about it.
Click here to read the details on her allegations from the article I wrote last month.
Former New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid says she’s waiting to see what happens with a pending ethics investigation before deciding whether to run against U.S. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., next year. 
Iglesias’ allegations triggered the inquiry into whether Domenici violated Senate ethics rules.